


'Tis The Season

by ArtisticTrash



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 12:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16723728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtisticTrash/pseuds/ArtisticTrash
Summary: A normal December evening for Lena and Emily. To get ready for Christmas, the couple go out a buy a Christmas tree and decorate it.Wholesome family content which may or may not have any OOCness.





	'Tis The Season

It’s that time of year again. Decorations are strewn around the city. Vibrant assorted colors are exposed to the world in the form of bright twinkling lights. Fir tree lots still flourishing despite the abundance of technology and stores have changed their stock to that of the current season. It won’t be long until the snow starts to fall. The temperature is low enough and the gray clouds are almost always hanging over the city of London. Just a matter of time. Relaxing in the warmth of her home, Tracer can’t wait for Christmas. Well, Lena Oxton can’t wait. She wasn’t an Overwatch agent anymore; she hadn’t been one for a while now. Anyway, Lena was thinking of the perfect present she’d picked out for her beloved. Of course, the brunette would wait until it was closer to Christmas to give the other her gift. Turning away from the view of the city, the brunette watches her girlfriend instead. In the young woman’s hand, Emily has two mugs of hot chocolate topped off with sweet, white cream. Lena’s mouth waters at the chocolatey drink which will soon be in her possession.

“Did I mention that I love you,” Lena says. As she holds the hot cup with ease, Emily uses the sleeves of her sweater.

Emily laughs. “I know."

The cheery young woman takes no time in taking big gulps from her cup. Emily takes more caution and sips tenderly from hers. 

“I can’t wait for Christmas,” Lena exclaims, unable to keep her excitement for the holiday to herself.

“Me either. I can’t wait to meet Winston again. He’s so nice and smart. I wonder how he’s doing,” Emily thinks aloud. She smiles again before taking another sip.

“Yeah, Winston’s the best,” Lena nearly shouts as she sits up. Her drink almost spilling. Emily gives her a playful glare. “Aside from you, that is, love.” 

“It must be hard,” Emily goes on quietly. 

“Hm?”

“Oh nothing, it’s just… I was thinking of the Overwatch. You said you were all like a family. It must be hard now that it’s over,” Emily finishes silently. Her gaze is centered on the cup and she’s a little dazed. She almost looks sad but gives a lighthearted smile for comfort.

“It is. Some didn’t take it well. Winston’s… adjusting too. I miss the glory days and everyone else but at least I don’t have to worry about getting killed anymore.” Lena laughs but it’s forced. Her smile is more of reminiscence than her current situation.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin the mood,” Emily apologizes.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.” Lena takes a final gulp and downs the rest of her drink. The chocolate that drained from the drink sticking to the bottom of the cup. “Anyway, let’s get down to business: We need to buy a Christmas tree.”

“You think so. It just turned December. We have some time.”

Lena shakes her head. “We  _ need  _ one. Soon.”

Emily takes more frequent sips from her drink. It’s almost to a quarter empty when she puts it down on the coffee table. “Why don’t we buy one tonight then?”

“Really! I thought you liked to wait for the sales.”

“Might as well get one now,” Emily responds with a shrug.

“And we can get the decorations and gingerbread houses and cookies and--” 

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Lena.”

“Oh, sorry.”

The couple laughs for a short minute. Lena then hops up and dresses before attaching her chronal accelerator. Emily does the same and grabs a long coat for herself and gives the brunette her own winter protection. The two then leave the apartment they share. There was a spot in the front room for the tree. For every Christmas the couple had spent together, the tree would always be placed there. It is a perfect place after all. It didn’t obstruct any view and there were plugins not too far away. And much to Lena’s delight, there was a window right across from it so anyone looking in could admire at their tree too. 

The air outdoors is nippy as usual and the two walk closely together. Lena makes a casual joke and Emily laughs along. Every now and then, someone from the crowded streets notices them. They’d thank Lena, call her ‘Tracer’ and then be on their way. It doesn’t bother either of them since Lena wears her code name with pride and Emily is perfectly fine with such interactions. She likes having a hero as a girlfriend; it kinda made her feel like a comic book character in a way. In fact, she likes it most when children approach Lena with the purest intentions. The kids are too young to understand why Lena isn’t Tracer anymore but they love her as well as they love the other members of Overwatch. 

The apartment complex isn’t too far from the nearest tree lot. Emily lives in the older parts of London; where the buildings are still made from brick and shorter than the rest of the city. Off to the side, in the place of where a building once stood, are the trees. Some are tall, close to 8ft even, while some are short but at least all of them are real. The heavy smell of the fir trees dominating everything. Lena is right off to zip between trees when Emily takes a firm hold of her arm, forcing them to stroll casually around the magnificent trees. As much as they would like a big tree, there simply no room for it. Eventually, the couple settles for a quaint and common tree of a fair and decent price. It’s about as tall as Lena but she has no worries about it. 

“Wait, how do we bring it up?” Lena asks mid-purchase. 

“Uh.” Emily is stumped to the answer as well.

“That’s all right,” the owner answers. He’s a middle-aged man obviously trying to make ends meet on the holiday. “I can have an omnic haul it for you. Costs extra though.”

Emily shifts her stance. She digs into her bag for her wallet. “Only if that’s not any trouble.”

The man nods as he stands behind the flimsy plastic table. Emily pulls out the correct amount of money for the price of the hauling and tree. The man accepts it and puts into the lockable tin container which doesn’t seem so safe. He steps away and calls for an omnic. The one that arrives for them is standard but old. The metal is rustic from exposure of the elements and its clothes seem like they haven’t been cleaned in a long while. The eyes are placed innocently at an angle with a light blue glow. It nods and goes to carry the tree for them. Emily leads the way and bids the man a Merry Christmas. His gloved hand waves goodbye. Lena’s sure they will never meet again due to the reasons surrounding the different worlds they live.

The omnic is quiet which affects the couple. Lena runs up ahead to be beside Emily once more but they don’t talk or say much. Every once and awhile, Lena looks back to the omnic. It looks forward and moves robotically. It’s movement too stiff for the sentient machine. Lena has seen many omnics in her lifetime, the only time they walk like that is when they are emotionally shut down. Either way, the poor thing isn’t a threat so she dismisses the thought. From there, the group enters the apartment with little complexity. Emily unlocks the door quickly and Lena bounces indoors. 

“You can put it here,” Lena says proudly. She points a bare point of the wall near the door. 

The omnic nods its head and the blue glow of its eyes flicker momentarily. Kind of like they blinked. With its job is finished, it turns to leave.

“Thank you,” Emily quickly states. The omnic turns to see her iconic smile. It pauses for a moment like it is thinking of an answer.

“You are welcome.” Its voice is soft-spoken and calm. Nearly hypnotic and definitely not expected.

Lena zips over to Emily. And having gotten used to the quick mobility of her girlfriend, the redhead is not frightened or surprised. 

“Tip him,” she whispers into Emily’s ear. Emily nods and grabs her wallet. She pulls out a few coins but hands them over to Lena. 

The omnic has already turned to leave. It passes through the doorway. It’s hand holding the doorknob as it goes to close it. 

Lena zips to the door in less than a second and grabs it right before it has the chance to close. This surprises the omnic. It turns rather quickly to spot her open the door a lot faster than it should be.

“Here you go, love,” Lena says. 

She holds out the handful of coins to the omnic who tentatively takes it. 

“Thank you, Tracer,” it says while holding the coins close to its chest before pocketing it. 

Lena beams with her typically bright smile. Even the few brown locks that fall in her face don’t deter her smile. “No problem.”

The omnic nods again. Lena is sure that if it had a mouth, it would be smiling. 

It turns away to leave, walking further down the hallway before pausing. “Also, thank you for… everything else.”

Lena nods again but it’s slower than what’s normal for her. A pang of regret for Mondatta comes to mind but she just shakes it away. There was nothing she could have done. Or at least that was what Morrison had told her. 

“It is okay. You do not have to say anything.”

Lena’s smile slightly falters as she watches the omnic leave. The soft sounds of its feet thumping against the wooden floor a gentle reminder of time for her. 

The brunette enters the apartment again and shuts the door behind her softly. She leans against the wood and lets out a sigh.

“You finally back,” Emily calls from the kitchen.

“Yeah,” she replies.

Lena then pushes her body away from the door and goes to wherever her girlfriend is. Her hand runs through the pointy pines of the tree as she passes it.

“Do you remember where we put the Christmas tree stand? I thought we put it in the box with the other Christmas stuff.” Emily sits on the floor. She’s pulling all sorts of ornaments from a box to find the stand. Thrown off behind her is the skirt they would need.

“No, we put it with the other pots and pans so it doesn’t get broken.” 

Emily pauses her digging.

“Oh, of course.” 

“I’ll get it.”

Lena goes around the mess Emily’s made. The brunette gets the stand and fills it full of water. She passes it over to Emily whose now taken to standing. The redhead cautiously takes it over to the spot they’d chosen. Lena throws the skirt over to her girlfriend as she goes to carry the tree without help. Although Lena isn’t the strongest person, she can still carry a tree that’s about her size. She doesn’t need help. Well, maybe a little help. The young woman carries the tree to the best of her abilities. Emily guides her along. The redhead verbally directs Lena away from things that she can’t see and uses her hands to support lowering the tree into the stand slowly without spilling. A final step for her is turning the metal screws into place so the tree won’t fall and waste their efforts. After that, the couple throws themselves onto the couch. Each taking a small break to get comfortable in their home. Lena tossing her accelerator over on the couch and kicking off her shoes with Emily’s.

Shortly after, Lena fetches the box of ornaments and lights. Emily takes the tangled lights and works at undoing them. She knows that the other can’t handle sitting still for that long with the nearly impossible task of untangling Christmas lights. Instead, Lena takes great joy in decorating the tree. She throws the white, glittery strings of decorations in a spiral pattern. To go along with the happy mood, Emily grabs her phone and connects to the speaker in the room with Bluetooth. She starts traditional holiday music. Songs with no words, all soft instrumental but memorable tunes. 

When Emily finishes untangling the lights, she holds it up with a pleased expression. Lena pumps a fist up in the air with a ‘yeah’ following shortly after. She chirps a praise for the redhead and takes the lights. Emily helps with the plug while Lena makes sure the lights are spaced just right in the pattern. Lena has always been the one for aesthetic placement when it came to any decorating in the apartment. The two then spend the rest of the night decorating the tree. The brightly colored plastic balls soon find their homes on the tree rather than in the box in which they had stayed for a year. When every single decoration, including the star which Emily had the honors in doing, all that is left is the broken ones covering the bottom of the cardboard box.

“We should get new ornaments next year,” Emily remarks quietly to herself. She’s noticed that there are more broken ones than before.

Lena, who was humming along to ‘Jingle Bells’, turns away from the tree. “But we keep the star.”

“Of course.” 

Emily walks over to Lena, the old box in her arms. She gives the brunette a peck on the lips. Lena feels a little blush creep onto her cheeks. Shaking it off, Lena goes to help Emily. The redhead tosses the box near the trashcan while the brunette gets the broom to sweep up the pines that had fallen from the tree onto the tile flooring. Emily got out the vacuum to get the pines that fell onto the carpet. When all the work was done, the pair sat on the couch once more. By now, it is late into the night. Emily had the day off tomorrow and Lena’s work was more complicated than it should be. Neither of the two has to work tomorrow but a good night’s sleep is worth something.

Exhaust moves over them like a wave. Lena grabs her accelerator and in their shared bedroom, she tosses it somewhere to the side. While she should be more careful, she is tired above all other things. Lena jumps on top of the covers not bothering to change from her sweatpants and t-shirt. Emily changes into shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt before settling under the covers beside her. The brunette had nearly fallen asleep when Emily bid her good night. She gives her a kiss on the cheek before passing out too. Lena remembers one thing before really going to sleep: How did I meet a girl like her? 

Lena then recalls the day they first meet which leads to dreams of happy memories. 


End file.
